Article by
Barbados Today

Published on
April 29, 2018

Solutions Barbados candidate for St Joseph Jennifer Highland wants to see a diversification of the island’s tourism product.

During a clean-up campaign on Saturday, Highland told Barbados TODAY that St Joseph could boast on its environs and as such Barbados should be looking at the therapeutic aspects of rural parishes and how best they could be promoted.

“Health tourism is very big. Rural parishes offer a completely different feel to the city, more relaxed and very calming,” Highland said.

“I met a gentleman last week and he is 99, in good health, and l said it must be the air in St Joseph.”

Along with health tourism, Highland said Barbados should be looking towards eco-tourism, but beyond relying primarily on sun, sea and sand to promote growth in an economy.

Like its neighbour Dominica, Barbados has many avid hikers who trek through rural communities.

“In my community manifesto I would have shared my intentions for the constituency, focusing on eco-tourism and the uniqueness of the rural parish, promoting St Joseph as a nature parish,” Highland said, revealing that many of the constituents are concerned about changes and developments in the landscape of the parish and prefer the natural landscape that is the real beauty of St Joseph.

“Some of Solutions Barbados’ candidates hike often through this very parish and even during my time canvassing the area it is difficult not to notice the issue of indiscriminate dumping of municipal solid waste.”

Highland said the dumping has a negative impact on not only the environment and the health of the people within the community but on the image of St Joseph.

“The image of unsightly garbage lying around sends the wrong message to our visitors who frequent these active tourism belts.”

Highland linked the unreliability of garbage collection as well as the limited number of garbage truck to the problem of indiscriminate dumping. (KH)

So it has to take an election for these folks to do a civic duty?
this is something that you should be doing every day, and not an election or waiting for an inept administration to do.
i admire the other organizations, who do this on a regular, with no intentions of running for office.
where were you all the while to do a civic duty?